Published 4:00 am, Tuesday, May 5, 1998

ONE OF the top four picks in the June NBA draft can be had, maybe the very first. The question now is what it will take to get it.

The Nuggets, owners of the league's worst record and, thus, the best chance of winning the May 17 lottery, are seriously considering trading their first-round pick, even if it's the first overall. Even if they don't win the lottery, they cannot draft lower than fourth, by league rules. New Nuggets general manager Dan Issel figures that the youth movement (which was tied to the budget-slashing movement) went too far last year.

"I think we have to explore every option to make this team better," Issel said soon after dismissing coach Bill Hanzlik. "If we can do that and get better with a player that's already in the league and we think that player's going to make us better than a top pick would, then that's the direction we'd probably go. I'm not going to say anything is a 'no' at this point."

The inherent problem, of course, is whether any other team will think the first pick is worth much to them if the worst team in the league can't use him. Nevertheless, the difference between the top five players and the rest of the group is significant -- the Warriors, for example, would be appalled if they ended up lower than fifth after the lottery.

The Dallas Mavericks, for another example, currently stand sixth, and general manager/coach Don Nelson already has gone on record to call the draft after the first five worthless. Nelson would dearly love to move up into the top three and is targeting Bibby, the best point guard available. The Warriors covet Bibby as well. And it might take moving to the top of the draft to get him -- again, depending on the results of the lottery.

One edge the Warriors might have on a team like the Mavs is what they can offer. The Mavs aren't willing to part with Michael Finley, their one star, whose five-year extension kicks in next year. The Warriors are more than willing to part with their biggest asset: Latrell Sprewell. Would he (and his baggage) sweeten a package enough to get the Warriors into prime draft position?

Stay tuned.

NOT BAD, CONSIDERING: It would only seem that this was the worst disciplinary year the NBA has ever encountered, but it wasn't. According to tabulations by the Associated Press, during the just-concluded regular season, 57 players were fined and/or suspended by the NBA for a total of 113 games and $368,000 (not including salary lost for suspended games). In 1995-96, the numbers were 57 players for a total of 62 games and a record $475,000.

What bloated this year's totals was Sprewell's 68-game suspension; the incident that triggered it did not take place at or during a game (something the union pointed out during Sprewell's grievance). Toss that out, and the numbers fall to 56 players and 45 games. And the fines include those paid by the Timberwolves and Trail Blazers when their players' shorts were judged too long.

OFF THE GLASS: Among the more intriguing (all right, less intriguing) matchups of the postseason's second round is Charlotte guard B.J. Armstrong and Chicago swingman Scott Burrell, playing against their former teams. The other uniting factor is that both once played for the Warriors, two of the 18 Ex-Warrior Club members who made playoff rosters this year. . . . Who in Chicago would understand the Bulls' dysfunctional family better than Jerry Springer? "This would be comparable to no family support," Springer, a Bulls' season-ticket holder, told the Chicago Sun-Times. "The parents aren't supporting the kids here, and the kids are the ones who are giving them these great championships." . . . Magic coach Chuck Daly was surely speaking of his supposed star player, Penny Hardaway, when he said: "Players have become less and less durable. At the end of 82 games, how many played less than that? That's a question we need to ask." The answer: Hardaway played only 19 games. . . . Center Jim McIlvaine is on Seattle's playoff roster but did not play a minute in the series against Minnesota. There is speculation that coach George Karl, whom owner Barry Ackerley is leaving hanging in the final year of his contract, is benching the overpaid McIlvaine out of spite for the owner and general manager Wally Walker.

TECHNICAL FOUL

PAT RILEY

No one, not even Alonzo Mourning, made more of a fool of himself during and after the brawl at the end of Game 4 between the Knicks and Heat. Riley has always tried to throw as much kerosene as possible on this blazing rivalry, ever since he slithered out of New York for Miami in 1995. The chest-thumping, throat-gesturing nature of

the series was his creation, and the fight at the end of Game 4 was a natural outgrowth.

However, Riley managed to outdo himself afterward: The Master Motivator, desperate for an edge for Game 5 without the suspended Mourning, trash-talked Knicks coach (and longtime assistant and friend) Jeff Van Gundy, saying he was "the only one out of control" during the fight, accusing him of instigating the incident and of "coaching in the press." Of Mourning's idiotic scuffle with Larry Johnson, Riley said, "I would have swung on him in a minute myself." And,

to rationalize his nasty remarks about Van Gundy, he said, "This is coaching. This transcends friendship."

After the Knicks slapped the Heat around Miami Arena Sunday and eliminated them, Van Gundy got in several last words about his one-time mentor -- among them, "I would say I have different values."

PUTTING UP NUMBERS
Michael Jordan ranks in the top 10 in these career playoff
statistical categories: points, scoring average, assists, steals, field
goals, free throws, 3-pointers and minutes. If the Bulls reach the NBA
Finals and Jordan maintains his career average, he will pass Kareem
Abdul-Jabbar into first place on the all-time postseason points list. This
is where he stands on the all-time points and scoring average lists through
Sunday:
.
Points Scoring Average
Player Years Total Player Games Avg.
K. Abdul-Jabbar 18 5,762 Michael Jordan 162 33.6
Michael Jordan 13 5,451 Jerry West 153 29.1
Jerry West 13 4,457 Elgin Baylor 134 27.04
Larry Bird 12 3,897 Karl Malone 122 27.03
John Havlicek 13 3,776 Hakeem Olajuwon 136 27.01
.